Decoupage Pumpkins - like stenciled!

Bugaboo, Mini, Mr & Me has been decoupaging pumpkins. It's not the idea that's revolutionary, it's the exact materials and the result -- they look almost stenciled and they are so elegant!

Sounds like an easy (and relatively inexpensive) way to get some really gorgeous patterns on wedding pumpkins or general seasonal decor.

Happy hauntings, all.

Somber Pumpkin Centerpiece

It's so hard to remember, but I feel like this time last year I was still worrying over centerpieces a bit.

These would have been kind of perfect for my black-and-silvery Hallowedding, so I must share them with my friends (all of you guys out there kindly reading my sporadic nonsense!): Martha's Glittery Gray Pumpkin Table.

She says the dusty miller is optional, but I rather disagree. You can find the plant at pretty much any home and garden store (at least around here), and it's so soft and ghostly.

The whole table on her project page looks divine. Makes me think that a gray table cloth is the way to go, rather than black, for any Halloween party this year. The stretched cheese cloth is just so haunted-house chic!

All-in-all, not a bad balance of spooky and elegant.

Black and White Dinner Party

Obviously, I had fun having my friends over on Saturday for the Gary Oldman dinner party and mini movie fest. Truly it was a great, restful day for me -- I feel like I haven't had many good opportunities to relax and indulge my creative side lately. So I guess even cooking and setting a table get me giddy these days!

We set a pretty black and white table. I served the garlic soup in teacups, because it's potent stuff and soup bowl full would have been overwhelming.

Silly simple centerpiece: a glass candle holder with three black taper candles, sitting in a oval, silver tray with dried rose petals sprinkled around the base. These were just things I gathered from my existing house decorations.

I don't have a sideboard, but we keep simple things on top of a wooden chest during dinner parties. Like extra napkins and skull vodka. (Eventually a cleaned wine bottle that I use as a water pitcher made its way there for dinner, on the silver tray).

A little overboard for a casual dinner, but it cheered me up to set the table. All company is important company, and the ladies I shared Saturday are simply divine -- they deserve the little extra effort! :)